Domaine des Deux Vallées, 2023 Update

If you are looking for the wines of Domaine Banchereau, then you have come to the right place.

That might be an unusual way to open a tasting report on the latest releases from Domaine des Deux Vallées, but it is relevant. I suspect there are more than a handful of Winedoctor subscribers who have fond memories of the sweet Coteaux du Layons made by the Banchereau family (not to be confused with the Branchereau family at Domaine des Forges). Anyone who doesn’t, and who would like to check them out, keep an eye on the auction scene; bottles from the 1990s still crop up for sale now and again.

The connection between the Banchereau and Socheleau families, the latter the modern day proprietors of Domaine des Deux Vallées, is a simple one; the former sold everything they had to the latter. And thus, with the construction of new cellars high on the Corniche Angevine, Domaine des Deux Vallées was born.

This was mostly the work of René Socheleau, and was twenty years ago, and today his son Philippe is in charge. Under him the domaine has increased its focus on the dry wines of Anjou and Savennières, with smaller volumes of sweet wines on the side, reflecting the shift in style which has been seen along the length and breadth of the Layon river in recent times. He has also completed a conversion of the vineyards to certified organic viticulture, increasingly the norm in this region – among the leading domaines, anyway.

I recently met up with Philippe Socheleau, in early 2023, to taste some of his current portfolio of wines.

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